


Mercy

by Miasmajesty1



Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 19:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4234479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miasmajesty1/pseuds/Miasmajesty1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corvo visits the Void and the Outsider says cryptic things about the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mercy

The sun danced along the horizon, the last of it's light casting long shadows across the Loyalist's stronghold. Corvo had returned from capturing Anton Sokolov earlier in the day, after rescuing Emily from the Golden Cat. It was a long day. Now, he Corvo kept an eye on the Hound's Pitt, watching the people below work and talk. He watched Emily stare out over the river earlier. She sung to herself, a wordless tune that Corvo recognised but couldn't place. He'd realised hours later that it was one of the tunes that the Whalers sung. Samuel had come to land for a time, but returned to his boat eventually. Corvo noticed how Samuel seemed far more relaxed in his own company; the two of them got along fine; Samuel was relaxed around Corvo more than he was with the other loyalists, but Corvo understood. When alone, there is no need to hold a façade of normality or civility.  
Piero stayed within the workshop, tinkering non-stop. He'd seemed agitated by Sokolov's kidnapping. Unfinished business, Corvo had noted, and left Piero alone. He wondered if Piero remembered being visited by the Outsider. Was he too plagued by the Void?  
Trevor and Havelocke stayed within the pub, but Martin sauntered out into the open air. He paced down the shoreline, and made a point of talking to the servants. Corvo knew what his goal was: power. Still; Corvo was not here under the gaze of the setting sun to watch people. He was here because he did not want to sleep. He didn't want to lest he slip back into the Void, or even not; sleep would bring a new day and new challenges. A new person's life to ruin. But the the sky was tawny now, and his excuses were running out. He pulled himself up from sitting on the metal walkway between the pub and the tower and slowly made his way back to his room. He shut the door behind him, though it could not prevent the cold draft seeping in through the gap under the door. He pulled off his jacket and unbuttoned the top layers of his clothes. The mattress had no give whatsoever. Still, after his long stay at Coldridge prison, it was a blessing. Anything was better than that place. It stank of death. These days, the whole city stank of death. No, it was more than that. Coldridge stank of fear; it had seeped into the floor and the walls, infected the prisoners and guards alike. This was better. The murmur of speech downstairs; indistinct but oddly comforting, helped Corvo relax. If he let it wash over him, he could almost pretend he was in back in the Palace. That things weren't teetering on the brink of total destruction. That Jessamine was still alive.  
No, he couldn't pretend that far.

The void beckoned.

Corvo opened his eyes, blinked, and dragged a hand over his face. The blue gloom of the void seeped in through the cracks in the wall, illuminating the dark room and casting panels of light across Corvo's body. His weary mind noted that it was strange; stranger than usual, at least, as he hadn't been transported directly into the void as per usual. He wondered if this gave him a choice, if he were to go back to sleep, would the Outsider leave him alone? Maybe. Maybe not.  
Corvo moved his hand away, eyes staring up at the ceiling, the void hovering just out of his field of vision. He sighed. He was awake now anyway. Might as well do a house call. He sat up, pulling his day clothes back on and shrugging on his jacket. Standing up, his footfalls sounded muffled. He left the bedroom, the door swinging open silently to reveal the void, it's unearthly existence already giving him a headache. He yawned, following the stone steps that came into existence before him up through a tight spiral. As he walked, he rose to meet floating landmarks of the void- a buoy, a spire he did not recognise, and off in the distance- the ever present Leviathan. A massive abomination of a thing- the whalers, the real whalers, argued over if they where a sub species of the whales or something else entirely. They dwarfed the already massive creatures, with teeth like nothing they should need, and a cry that echoed through the depths of the oceans. As Corvo squinted at it, he could feel a pressure on his mind. The enormity of it pushing down and down, like tendrils of ink beginning to curl around his head. A bad idea, he decided, as he returned his attention the stone staircase. He was nearly at the top now. He wanted to cast another glance at the distance Leviathan, but logic warned him against it. Perhaps it's pull here was stronger than on the normal realm. He'd wondered before if that beast was the Outsider- another physical incarnation or the God itself. The Abbey was not wrong to fear him. If the Abbey was a good alternative to this chthonic spirit of immeasurable power- Corvo wasn't convinced.

Speaking of chthonic spirit of immeasurable power, even at the top of the steps, the Outsider was nowhere to be seen. Corvo took the time to review his surroundings. There were parts of the Golden Cat; through it looked vastly different in this blue light than it's natural red and gold atmosphere. Here, Corvo could see the peeling paint and the mouldy furniture. He walked through it with leisure he could never afford in the physical realm. Beyond the Void's image of the Cat, a hundred rocky outcrops drifting and bobbing in an immaterial tide. Part of a floodgate, just to Corvo's right, then to his left, another thing he didn't recognise.  
"The lighthouse," came a voice from behind him. Corvo didn't turn to look- the Outsider's smooth voice was familiar enough. "A key piece in the story," the Outsider continued, nonplussed by Corvo's lack of reaction. "I wonder if this battle will end in the Empire's favour as it has before," he mused. Corvo could assume from his words that this was part of the lighthouse on Kingsparrow Island. It had helped hold the forces of Morley back from Dunwall; although not all of them, as there were enough assassination attempts on the reigning empresses' life that the position of Royal Protector was established. So, he was to go to Kingsparrow? Corvo could have thought on that for a long time, but it would drive him mad to consider all of the possibilities; and that was besides the point, as the being behind him could consider those possibilities for him.  
"Have you brought me here for a reason?" Corvo asked, turning away from the lighthouse to face the Outsider. Clouds of dark purple and black smoke twisted around him. The Outsider looked at him but said nothing. Corvo waited, though he founded it hard to look the Outsider in the eyes for too long. Like the Leviathan he had looked at before, it was the same feeling. The pressure of something incomprehensible to human minds.  
"You are responsible for many things Corvo," the Outsider said finally. "Not just in this city, but in others too," he continued, arms folded over his chest. Corvo meets his eyes again.  
"That seems unlikely," Corvo said. He had no intention of leaving. No, once Emily was on the throne, Corvo would stay at her side to protect her. That was his place. The Outsider titled his head, ever so slightly, watching Corvo with his hollow eyes.  
"Perhaps not," the Outsider said, "Time will tell what you will do," he said. "Even now, there are events elsewhere that will one day entangle you," he said. "A fly caught in yet another web. But they don't know you," he said, leaving an emphasis on the final word. Corvo couldn't tell if that was twisted affection and pride, or nothing at all.  
"Why are you telling me this?" Corvo asked bluntly. He appreciated the Outsider's help- without his powers he would almost certainly be dead. There were other benefits too; the magic that ran through his veins shone onto his aching body. He was tired when he went to sleep, this was true, but he was not a young man. Even driven by revenge, he could not feasibly do what he had done. Not without help. For this he was grateful, but Corvo was unnerved by the Outsider and why he did any of this.  
"Because you will do more than I ever expected," the Outsider said. Corvo frowned, and scanned the void again. "Unpredictable too," the Outsider said. "All the power you have, all the things you could do with it, and you choose this path," the Outsider said. Corvo wondered if he wanted a response.  
"You could kill everyone within Dunwall," the Outsider stated.  
"Why?" Corvo asked.  
"Indeed, why?" the Outsider repeated.  
"Death is a mercy," Corvo said. He gazed out at the Leviathan, then at the man in front of him with his empty eyes and his young, boyish face. "They don't deserve mercy," Corvo said.  
"Fascinating as always," the Outsider said. Corvo noticed there was an inflection in his voice- something breathless, like wonder. Corvo found himself unsettled to have the wonder of a God on his back. At the same time, he couldn't suppress the flicker of victory within his own heart. Support was few and far in-between these days- to have a God rooting for him couldn't hurt.  
"I will release you from here now. Do be careful," the Outsider said. Corvo felt his vision blur, the black smoke that curled around the Outsider like a flame flickering into his vision as everything went black.

Corvo woke to the same murmur of speech downstairs, only this time the sun was not setting but rising. It was early morning, and the few birds that had not fled the dying city sung their shrill songs from their perches. Corvo pulled his clothes back on; his jacket, his weapons, the mask. He went to put the mask on but decided against it, hanging it instead from one of the loops on his jacket. He left the room and returned to the metal walkway. The cool morning air bit at his skin. He wondered what exactly the Outsider had meant by his words. Other cities, he'd said. Corvo wondered which. Perhaps he would return to Serkonos, to Karnaca. To his birthplace. If all of this was resolved- if the plague could be cured, if Emily could be restored to the throne, then perhaps he could return to Karnaca. But one thing Corvo couldn't understand is why he would do that. Casting his uncertainties aside, Corvo watched as rays of light infiltrated the sky. Below, he heard a welcome sound- Emily's voice. Looking down from his vantage point, he saw Emily in animated conversation with Samuel. Corvo smiled to himself as she talked; he couldn't quite make out her words, but she was certainly excited by them. When she was younger she'd been thrilled by his tales of Karnaca. The warmth and the diversity of the city stood in stark contrast to Dunwall. But Corvo hadn't been to Karnaca in a long time. Any number of things could have changed. Even so, Corvo felt an odd comfort in his visit to the Void. The Outsider seemed certain that he would leave Dunwall. That meant he would survive this ordeal. Corvo hadn't cared whether he lived or died for several months now, but watching Emily as stood on the riverbank, Corvo was glad for it. If he and Emily could survive with the support of the Outsider, then perhaps things would be okay. Corvo felt the Mark on his hand as he looked down at Emily, and he smiled, content in what the future could hold, if only for now. 

**Author's Note:**

> This started out completely differently from how it's actually ended up. I may publish the original idea once I'm done with it. Also yes, this is a reference to Dishonored 2. I'm VERY excited.


End file.
